This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA

Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 2000;284:2309.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

For the first time in 70 years, cases of potentially deadly Rift Valley Fever (RVF) have been reported outside traditionally affected areas in North and sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in late September that laboratory analyses at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had confirmed the diagnosis in patients in Saudi Arabia and the bordering nation of Yemen. WHO officials said 160 cases, including 33 deaths, of suspected RVF had been reported in Saudi Arabia and 134 suspected cases, including 31 deaths, were reported in Yemen. The outbreaks raise a threat that RVF could spread to other parts of Asia and Europe because many species of mosquitoes are vectors for the RVF virus, a member of the genus Phlebovirus.

In Saudi Arabia and Yemen, experts from WHO, CDC, the United Nations, and the National Institute of Virology in South Africa are . . . [Full Text of this Article]